Welcome to Learning Modular: a site for musicians and sonic dabblers alike who want to learn more about modular synthesis. Here you will find in-depth articles, musings, and videos on subjects such as choosing modules for your system and putting them to work creating both new and familiar sounds.

One of the most talked about new modules at NAMM was the Frap Tools Fumana Dual 16 Bands Spectral Editor. It is from the same school of thought as the Buchla 296 Spectral Processor, and the Verbos Bark Filter Processor which came out last year and which I already...

Trade shows rarely go smoothly for exhibitors. On the first day of NAMM this year, I was surprised to find the Intellijel booth in the middle of an aisle instead of in their normal booth space. It turns out that a large pipe at the back of their booth had started...

A few of those themes that emerged during this year’s NAMM show included CEM 3340-based VCOs (as there are now two sources for this classic, previously-unavailable chip), granular synthesis, semi-modulars, and multiple voices. I touched on that last one in the first installment, with 4ms’ Spherical Waveform Navigator being capable of 6-voice polyphony; in general, more companies are looking at configuring a modular to produce more than one sound at the same time – and we’ll look at a few of them here.

For the last couple of year I’ve written up my conversations with all of the modular manufacturers I could visit during the most recent NAMM show, starting on the first night of the show. This year, for personal reasons, I was on a different schedule, but I’m finally starting my manufacturer-by-manufacturer reports, to be spread out over several installments.